TheAuldGrump

Just bumping this so that it is above my own ill informed inquiry. She looks spiffy! The Auld Grump

Except in a list. In a list a comma is a separator. http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/commas_in_lists.htm But this was not a list, it was a statement of content. Similar, but with a different structure. By using commas in a differing manner within the same sentence you shifted into conversational mode. A list would be along the lines of - A Reaper Con Swag Bag contains: twelve lords a leaping, eleven swans a swimming, ten, wait a minute, who let the ocelot in here? It's eating the geese.... By phrasing the list in more conversational tones you changed the rules of grammar that pertained. English has some absurdly complex rules, many of which are ignored by, well, nearly everyone. English makes up for this by also being absurdly flexible. As I mentioned the semicolon is falling into disuse, but because you had written a casual sentence it was the proper punctuation. As written, you subverted the meaning of your statement by using an improper separator. Me, I love the complexity of the language, and may parse with excess precision. (Dur, ya think?) Even in my lifetime some of the rules have shifted (Strunk & White's have gone through several revisions in recent years, including the changing rules of e-mail.) Some rules that used to exist have been gone for longer than anyone has been alive - when was the last time that you used a 'medial s' or 'long s', where the penultimate 's' in a word becomes indistinguishable from an 'f'? ('In Congrefs of the United States' from the Bill of Rights as an example.) Get a nice font and adding a medial s or a terminal (most often silent) e can go a long way toward making a handout look antique. Or that a period does follow a terminal ellipses? However, as much fun as a discussion of grammar may be (and I actually do think that it is fun) it is also off topic, so let us round it off here, yes? (Besides, my crow has been picked to the bones, and I have used the feathers to make a duster.) The dead horse has been beaten into submission. The important thing here is that Tomb Raiding Sophie will be coming out, even if she is going to be accompanied by a rodent. The Auld Grump - "English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark allies, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar."

Except in a list. In a list a comma is a separator. http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/commas_in_lists.htm But this was not a list, it was a statement of content. Similar, but with a different structure. By using commas in a differing manner within the same sentence you shifted into conversational mode. A list would be along the lines of - A Reaper Con Swag Bag contains: twelve lords a leaping, eleven swans a swimming, ten, wait a minute, who let the ocelot in here? It's eating the geese.... By phrasing the list in more conversational tones you changed the rules of grammar that pertained. English has some absurdly complex rules, many of which are ignored by, well, nearly everyone. English makes up for this by also being absurdly flexible. As I mentioned the semicolon is falling into disuse, but because you had written a casual sentence it was the proper punctuation. As written, you subverted the meaning of your statement by using an improper separator. Me, I love the complexity of the language, and may parse with excess precision. Even in my lifetime some of the rules have shifted (Strunk & White's have gone through several revisions in recent years, including the changing rules of e-mail.) Some rules that used to exist have been gone for longer than anyone has been alive - when was the last time that you used a 'medial s' or 'long s', where the penultimate 's' in a word becomes indistinguishable from an 'f'? ('In Congrefs of the United States' from the Bill of Rights as an example.) Get a nice font and adding a medial s or a terminal (most often silent) e can go a long way toward making a handout look antique. Or that a period does follow a terminal ellipses? However, as much fun as a discussion of grammar may be (and I actually do think that it is fun) it is also off topic, so let us round it off here, yes? (Besides, my crow has been picked to the bones, and I have used the feathers to make a duster.) The dead horse has been beaten into submission. The important thing here is that Tomb Raiding Sophie will be coming out, even if she is going to be accompanied by a rodent. The Auld Grump - "English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark allies, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar."

No, a comma is a pause, not a full separation - what follows after a comma is a continuation of, or a clause building upon, the previous statement. The best way to handle independent clauses would not be punctuation, but would rather be the ever handy word 'and'. A semicolon would also be proper punctuation in this case - but it seems that the semicolon is disappearing from vernacular usage. Heck, I don't use them, and I know what they are for! Using a comma implied the opposite of the desired message in this case. Commas can have amazing power in that regard, as an example. Woman, without her man, is nothing. Woman, without her, man is nothing. And now I have a song from Schoolhouse Rock running through my head.... And, for what it is worth, Strunk & White's Elements of Style is one of the most absurdly useful little books in the world. I had a teacher who had White as a teacher, and Strunk was White's teacher.... White was shocked to find that Strunk had written, and had printed, that 'little book'. He found out only when he sought his teacher to find out where he could get the book so he could us it in his classes. It was at White's urging that the book was given wider release. The Auld Grump, perhaps overly given to the use of commas and the ellipse....

I see. Clarifying: That reads pretty clearly to me as separate items - a ReaperCon Sophie, a Special Con Figure, A MSP, a Shirt Dr. Wyrm - I will go ALL CAPS on you... To me it read as ReaperCon Sophie [is] a special annual Con figure. Plus, of course, the fact that a Mousling replaced Sophie for Christmas. Meanwhile, in regards to the official announcement that, yes, there is a Tomb Raiding Sophie for this year.... Mmmmmmm... crow.... The Auld Grump, crow is rich in seven essential vitamins and minerals.

Or on the basis of the front page of the web site? I suspect, again, hoping to be proven wrong (and if proven wrong I will eat crow in the form of buying the Sophie), that the picture of Tomb Raider Sophie is the only Sophie we will get - no mini, just the picture. And yes, I am annoyed with having no Christmas Sophie for 2010. The Auld Grump

Both the hair and the hands sounds like a very good idea. Does steampunk count as fantasy? I have seen SF fans argue that it is fantasy, and and fantasy fans argue that it is SF. I lean towards fantasy, myself. I'd love to see engineers, male and female, with big wrenches, for a steampunk era - maybe one based on Jamie Hyneman.... A pair of steampunk mages and/or technomages, just to cement this as fantasy. (And 'cause my steampunk game has magic.) Goggles and prosthetics would be cool too. For modern fantasy a real odd ball - zombie jazz funeral. (It came up in a game a couple of years ago, and the image is still with me.) The Auld Grump

I don't think that I am misreading that. :( Previous years the 'Special Reaper Con figure' has been Sophie. 'this year it's going to be a cowboy mousling' Remember, there was no Christmas Sophie this year, instead it was one of those despicable rodents. I have no interest in Mouslings, cowboy or otherwise. I would love to be proven wrong, but.... The Auld Grump, I wish that they had put up a discussion about it around Christmas - I didn't order a Mousling then, either....

Dead Mouseling in a mousetrap. The Auld Grump, in regards to mousie Sophie, 'drather have Sophie, no mouse

No Sophie for Reaper Con this year? :( I have been purchasing most of the Sophies for Christmas, and the RC Sophie when I find out in time. This time I remembered, but like Christmas, it is going to be a mousling? I rather wanted the Tomb Raiding Sophie as a figure. I have no use for mouslings, and if they are what is replacing saucy Sophie then I have to say that I hate mieses to pieces. :( The Auld Grump, really sorry he missed the multipack Sophie a whiles back. :( (If it gets reissued I will buy one!)

And Rotwang! (Metropolis is my second favorite movie. ) The Auld Grump

Here's the Voice of the Mountain website dedicated to Manly Wade Wellman: LINK Why hasn't anybody done a John the Balladeer RPG is beyond me. It would be like Call of Cthulhu without everybody's sanity going south at the first sign of trouble. I wouldn't mind buying ten or twenty Shonokin figures about right now (Reaper's birdman figures make great Raven Mockers). You ever see the movie based on the series? 'The Ballad of Hillbilly John'.... *Shudder.* What the lead actor did to the role of John was sad - he didn't just phone his performance in, he mailed it with postage due. :( The Auld Grump

Thanks for that link. I've never even heard of Silver John. They ask me what my name is,And what I'm doing here. They call me John the Wanderer, Or John the Balladeer.... Great series. *EDIT* I was going to add a link to the page on Baen, but the book of short stories has moved to Paizo. :) The Auld Grump

OOooh, even better would be an accessory blister with steampunky bits - hats, goggles, hats with goggles, prosthetic limbs, monocles, canisters, strange weapons, small back carried steam engine/boiler.... Maybe a small length of wrapped guitar string for conduits/hoses. The Auld Grump

I really miss this figure. :( I gave mine away as a Christmas present, before finding out that the M-K Studios site had vanished into the aether. The Auld Grump

Steampunk soldiers - gas mask with 'scuba tank', goggled helmet, strange looking rifle.... Steampunk heroines - I very much liked the cowgirl by Morgan-Kieth studios, others might include a nurse, a secretary/agent (with well hidden weapons - something akin to the cover of Changeless). Just more steampunk goodness in general. :) The Auld Grump *EDIT* It is ridiculously easy to steampunk Phat Clark.

Okay, so why not make a separate pre-painted line of Pathfinder minis? I appreciate the back-end business info--but as a customer I really don't care if they're part of the LE line or not. I just want to see painted, plastic Pathfinder minis. I know you probably don't mean it this way, but it really seems more like making up reasons to say "stop asking". Again, as a customer, I'll keep up the campaign. :) As mentioned above - when you order plastic models you have to buy a lot of them. Also, the process is painfully long, which eats into the duration of the license. If you have a two year license, and each wave requires a five month lead time.... Metal miniatures have a very short lead time, and aside from the spinner is relatively inexpensive, especially the molds. Materials cost is high - the price of tin has been volatile. Plastic miniatures have a very long lead time, and molds are expensive. Materials cost is very low - so the more miniatures you produce from a given mold the lower the cost per miniature. But it takes a while to make back the cost of the mold. Painting also adds to the cost. Because so much of the process is done over seas there is an additional lag. Resin, like metal have a low start up cost, but resin can eat a mold if it is the wrong material or poorly prepped. Materials cost is very high. The Auld Grump

And what do you burn aside from winches? The Auld Grump, feeling cranky... (attempts rim shot, gets dull *thump* instead.)

The Harbormaster is a nice set - I have built two, one as a harbor master, and the other sans stone piers as a train station. :) I can't wait to see what you have up next, either way. The Auld Grump

Very nice tower. Looks like a fall from the top might be quite a drop. Almost 100' scale. (:) So, what is next up in the cardstock saga? The Auld Grump, hoping for Castle Works Ultimate.

Heh, the free climbers are a bigger problem. Nice build! The Auld Grump

That's hilarious. Hilarious was the 'Maiden hat' he made - a full sized Maiden with a reinforced hull, and a hole in the bottom that he could put over his head so he could wear it like a hat! He made it for a St. Patrick's Day party at a local bar, adding shamrocks and a Celtic cross to the sails. I have it on good authority that he sometimes wore it at work! He just got in contact with me after more than two years, so these things are coming to mind. (And the first thing he mentions is how he is using the Maiden for gaming.) The Auld Grump

After the Maiden you will find the Watchtower to be a snap! You have had your baptism of fire, it only gets easier from here. :) While I love the Maiden dearly it is the most challenging model that World Works makes. While I did not do the sideways yardarm mistake I did build a hidden pirate cove model for the Maiden before she was released - only to discover that the Maiden was a foot longer and two inches wider than I had planned for... after spending two months building the caves and the inn above them. The Maiden was bigger than the cave she was supposed to lie in. The Auld Grump

And thus the popularity of the placart - originally intended as the belly plate for a suite of plate it was not uncommon to see the rest of the armor disregarded and the placart worn without much else in the way of armor. Placart, tassets and buffcoats being a fairly common choice. A person wearing a chainmail bikini is asking to be gutted. (And a person wearing a horned helmet is asking for a broken neck.) A volley of arrows would be a problem for that armor, and could end with a dead paladin fairly quickly. I too tend to connect chastity with paladins, despite the historic example of Charlemagne's court. When I think 'paladin' I think Galahad or Parcifal not Lancelot or Oliver. When I get female fighter types I tend to go with Ms. Garrity - armor that covers all of the, umm, vulnerables. :) The Auld Grump

An alternative to scoring is compression - taking a pen that has run completely out of ink and running it along those same lines, bearing down just a bit harder than with a knife - it does not leave the ugly white lines, but is slightly more likely to go off course in the process of folding. For cannon I was able to cheat - I have a number of metal miniatures that serve the purpose well. I think that I managed to make every mistake you have mentioned in the process of building the Maiden - I also had to 'retrofit' a piece of foamcore to add support to the lower deck. But it is so very much worth it when you are done - the Maiden is a centerpiece, and no mistake. It can dominate a table. Very nice build, it looks like you have a winner on your table. :) Before my Maiden suffered an ignoble fate she saw use in many games, from D&D to Mordheim. She saw heavy play even as she was falling apart (following use at a summer program for children). I really need to build another. A suggestion that a friend came up with that I have not tried involves the use of a small square hole punch being used on the transparencies for the rat lines - so you can hang figures by their arms in the rigging for how high they have climbed. The Auld Grump